jump online and do a little research to figure out what your bass are feeding on .
drawing power
The reason why a swimbait works so well is its drawing power . A bass will travel farther to eat a larger meal than it will a smaller meal – that means that you ’ re simply fishing a larger area of the lake with each cast of a swimbait . As bass transition from their winter haunts and move to their spawning areas , they ’ re looking for easy meals to feed on before they start the actual spawning process . This is why so many giant bass are caught on swimbaits this time of year .
There are two main categories of soft swim baits , categorized by the shape of their tails and the style of tail kicks they produce : wedge-tail swimbaits and boot-tail swimbaits .
wedge-style baits
Wedge-tail swimbaits have a subtle and realistic type of tail kick . These baits are best utilized in clearer water , where / when a natural-looking swim is key . Wedge-tail swimbaits work best when your primary forage is rainbow trout and kokanee . If you ’ re fishing a reservoir with good water clarity , this style of soft swimbait will work best .
To target the biggest bass in the lake , we look for long , tapering main-lake points and secondary points leading to spawning flats or bays . We frequently like to fish the baits “ uphill ,” so we position our boat or kayak near the shoreline and make long casts out over the point in deep water . We fish the swimbait back to the boat slowly , trying to imitate a slow-moving , lazy trout . This is a perfect spot for a large bass to pick off an easy meal .
If we ’ re fishing on a warm afternoon , we get up near the shoreline and chuck and wind just like we would if we were fishing a spinnerbait . This time of the year , the bigger bass often move shallow to sun themselves and feed .
Some of our favorite swimbaits in this category are the Huddleston Deluxe 8-inch Trout , the Hawg Hunter Magnum Trout and the Savage Gear Pulsetail RTF Trout . All three of these swimbaits have a very subtle and realistic swim and have produced multiple teen-size bass for us ( the largest over 17 pounds !).
boot-tail baits
Boot-tail swimbaits have a more aggressive kick and give the swimbait body rolling action . We like to fish these in lakes where the primary forage are shiners or shad .
Boot-tail swimbaits put off a lot more vibration and really work well in
PHOTOS COURTESY TACTICAL BASSIN dingy or stained water . As we transition from prespawn to postspawn and the weather and water warms , we often head shallow with boot-tail baits . If your lake has a lot of docks or laydowns , boot tail baits are the best choice in the soft-bait category .
Some of our favorite swimbaits in this category are the Megabass Magdraft , Bull Shad Bacca Buritto , and some of the Scottsboro Tackle swimbaits .
glide baits
Glide baits have caused quite a buzz in recent years , and both larger tackle companies and custom bait makers have brought a lot of really good baits to the market . There are two different styles of glide baits : cover glides and open-water glides .
Open-water glides have a really wide , slow “ S ” glide . When you hold one of these baits in your hand , you ’ ll notice that it has more range of motion at the joint than a cover glide . Openwater glides are meant to be fished in areas where more drawing power is needed .
Similar to wedge-tail swimbaits , open-water glides are meant to look like a slow , lazy meal waiting to be eaten . They ’ re meant to cover water , and you fish them in the same places you ’ d fish your wedge-tail soft swimbaits : we like to launch them over long , tapering main lake points , secondary points and offshore humps .
Some of our favorite open-water glide baits are the Baitsanity Trout Explorer and the Deps Slide Swimmer 250 .
Cover glides have a narrower range of motion at the joint , a tighter “ S ” glide and are meant to be fished around cover ( hence why we call it a “ cover glide ”). When you cast past a piece of cover like a dock piling or laydown , you implement two rod twitches or quick turns of the reel handle to make the bait dart side to side . This is when you ’ ll get 90 % of your bites .
Cover glides with a narrower range of motion can get a lot more “ twitchy ” or “ choppy ” and that generates big bites around cover .
Some of our favorite cover glide baits are the RiverS2ea S-Waver 168 , Baitsanity Antidote and the KGB Chad Shad .
Now that you have a better understanding of the different swimbait types and tail styles , we encourage you to try some of these baits at your local lake . The whole category of big swimmers might see a little overwhelming at first , but the results can be extremely rewarding and can give you the best shot atcatching the biggest bass of your life !
APRIL-MAY 2023 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 31